Rever Theories
POSTED BY: Kaythryn
UPDATED: Monday, May 5, 2003 18:53
VIEWED: 7801
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I think Mal and Zoe know the most about Reavers because they're most comfortable in the black, where the Reavers are. The Alliance wouldn't know about them because they're not comfortable in the black or "frontier".
JW could be tapping into the myth of the feral humans. There are the wolf children of India, where wolves raise human babies instead of eating them, there's the Native Americans with the Settlers, the Celts and Germans with the Romans, the Vikings with the Celts, and most recently, the Vietnam vets that purposely went back to the jungles because they couldn't adjust to civilization. There's a rumor that a small patch of jungle in Hawaii has been turned into "Little Vietnam" for the Vietnam Vets who couldn't take it anymore.
I'd love to know how true that rumor is though. Well, back to snopes!
______________________
Lost Angel
WASH: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
ZOE: We live in a space ship, dear.
WASH: So?
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there's the Native Americans with the Settlers, the Celts and Germans with the Romans, the Vikings with the Celts, and most recently, the Vietnam vets that purposely went back to the jungles because they couldn't adjust to civilization.Quote:
I think you've hit on it. I don't think the Celts quite fit, because many did become Romanized. But, mostly Reavers are a plot device to fill the role of Indians. Firefly is a Western in Space, can't have a western without Indians.NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
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Originally posted by Kaythryn:
Thanks guys, that’s clears up a lot. I forgot about all of the "men gone savage on the edge of space" references. I kind of got one idea in my head and ran with it.
and yet who's to say the Alliance didn't start the Reaver story in the first place?
my questions are plentiful but basically drill down to this: how does Mal know so much about them as he was raised on a colony, not a spacecraft?
"I'm still flyin'...that's enough." ~ Mal
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Reckon I'm not the first to say this (in fact, I think I recall seeing a variant in a fanfic around here somewhere). Personally, I think Shadow was hit by reavers, and Mal (just) survived. No evidence for this (apart from his intimate knowledge of how the reavers work [one of those beloved ranch hands left behind?]), but it feels right to me...
Department of Redundancy Department
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Do you think the survivor in Bushwacked was a method of Rever adoption? Just a thought.
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Originally posted by Noocyte:
Reckon I'm not the first to say this (in fact, I think I recall seeing a variant in a fanfic around here somewhere). Personally, I think Shadow was hit by reavers, and Mal (just) survived. No evidence for this (apart from his intimate knowledge of how the reavers work [one of those beloved ranch hands left behind?]), but it feels right to me...
great minds must be thinking alike--the second I wrote the question, my brain started working on it. fearfully, the idea emerged that the reason why his home is "gone" is because of the reavers. and if, as you say, he did find one of the ranch hands who "survived" and had to, shall we say, help him find *peace* it would explain a great deal, wouldn't it? i can picture him learning all of this after Serenity, when he thought he would be going home to a safe place where nothing is supposed to change, only to find it decimated. wow...is there a story there or what?
Zoe, I think, takes the reavers as fact and not campfire stories because she was raised on a spaceship and reavers are the darker part of her culture.
"I'm still flyin'...that's enough." ~ Mal
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i can picture him learning all of this after Serenity, when he thought he would be going home to a safe place where nothing is supposed to change, only to find it decimated. wow...is there a story there or what?
Wow! I Hadn't even thought of a time frame for the reaver attack on Shadow to have taken place; the notion of Mal coming back from the battle (and subsequent abandonment) of Serenity Valley, beaten and doubting, only to find the rest of his roots severed so traumatically... really makes the "None of it means a damn thing" line resonate all the more heart-rendingly! Good thought, Channain!
And, yah; I can well imagine Zoe and her band having chanced across a reaver-hit derelict or two in her time, so her reaction also makes sense.
Department of Redundancy Department
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I think you've hit on it. I don't think the Celts quite fit, because many did become Romanized. But, mostly Reavers are a plot device to fill the role of Indians. Firefly is a Western in Space, can't have a western without Indians.
A 'Western' = Hollywood entertainment.
Hollywood's take on Indians = hardly enlightened on the subject of the role Native Americans played in US history (only a very small percentage of the 500 nations European settlers encountered were actually brutal and aggressive).
Assuming Joss is using the Reavers as a metaphor for 'savages' in the Western sense, hopefully his take on them will be* more enlightened than typical Hollywood and lean toward the reality of Native Americans: They were misunderstood, marginalized tools of propaganda/fear.
Or perhaps the existential atheistic Mr. Whedon genuinely believes that space madness will lead to carnage, destruction and cannibalism.
mattro
(*yes, I'm an optimist)
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Originally posted by Noocyte:Quote:
the notion of Mal coming back from the battle (and subsequent abandonment) of Serenity Valley, beaten and doubting, only to find the rest of his roots severed so traumatically... really makes the "None of it means a damn thing" line resonate all the more heart-rendingly!
Mal's awfully empty inside. he puts on a good show, but all that anger is hiding the fact that his heart has been scraped hollow. leaving him with sorrow so deep he'll probably never really feel anything again. he might be afraid to because once he does, he'll have to feel it all and probably lose it in the process. that happens when absolutely everything is taken away."I'm still flyin'...that's enough." ~ Mal
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Originally posted by Veteran:Quote:
there's the Native Americans with the Settlers, the Celts and Germans with the Romans, the Vikings with the Celts, and most recently, the Vietnam vets that purposely went back to the jungles because they couldn't adjust to civilization.Quote:
I think you've hit on it. I don't think the Celts quite fit, because many did become Romanized. But, mostly Reavers are a plot device to fill the role of Indians. Firefly is a Western in Space, can't have a western without Indians.
it's true, really. what western would be complete without indians? (Rio Bravo is, but it's got Mexicans.) civilization isn't everybody's cup of tea. the entire crew of Serenity is trying their best to do without it, even Inara.
"I'm still flyin'...that's enough." ~ Mal
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